


Pinky Promises

by chali



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Gen, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt Pidge | Katie Holt, Hurt/Comfort, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-09-22 20:02:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17066180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chali/pseuds/chali
Summary: "Oh, god dammit," Pidge growled, glaring at their bayards, lying on the ground beneath them, almost buried under the leaves that had been concealing the traps. "What the hell? I mean, seriously, who the hell has god damn nets in space? Of all the damn things -""Well, it seems to have worked just fine on us, hasn't it?" Keith snapped back.--Keith and Pidge get caught in a net. Things only get worse for them from there.





	Pinky Promises

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Trapped in a Net
> 
> I received two separate requests for this - one for Pidge being caught, and one for Keith being caught (with a side of Broganes) - so hopefully this satisfies both requests. Enjoy!

Given the technology and advanced weaponry of the Galra, the last thing Keith had expected from them was _nets_. Nets were such an Earth thing. Such an _old_ Earth thing. How did he and Pidge manage to get caught in a god damn net trap? It was just so - _crude_.

He'd let his guard down. He'd let himself get cocky, thinking that with his fighting skills and Pidge's genius intellect, there would be no way they'd get caught. Which was why they now found themselves in this situation, caught in two separate nets, made with thick metal wire, hanging several feet from the jungle ground, just barely out of reach of each other. 

"Oh, god _dammit_ ," Pidge growled, glaring at their bayards, lying on the ground beneath them, almost buried under the leaves that had been concealing the traps. "What the hell? I mean, seriously, who the hell has god damn _nets_ in _space_? Of all the damn things -"

"Well, it seems to have worked just fucking _fine_ on us, hasn't it?" Keith snapped back. Pidge only growled again in response. Keith looked at her carefully through the holes of the net. "Are you hurt?" She bit her lip.

"I, uh, might have sprained my shoulder a bit. It feels pretty messed up. But other than that, I'm good. You?"

"I'm fine." Pidge raised a skeptical eyebrow. 

"Are you, though?"

" _Yes_. Just give me a second and I can -" Keith twisted until he managed to reach his knife where it was sheathed behind his back. "I'll cut us out."

"Thank quiznack for you and your knife, Keith."

He squeezed the blade in between two of the metal wires and pulled - and screamed when fire tore through his veins. He wasn't sure how long it lasted, but by the time it stopped his muscles felt aching and weak, and he tasted blood from where he'd bitten through his lip.

"-eith! Keith! Shit, shit - _Keith!"_

"'m fine, Pidge," he slurred. His net had twisted around, and he could no longer see her. He tried to shift, to turn it around again, but he couldn't seem to make his muscles listen to him.

"Dammit, these things are - _god_ , I hate nets. And I hate the Galra. God dammit. I can't reach the Castle, our communications have been blocked, and it - shit!"

Keith heard it too. Footsteps. Multiple, heavy footsteps, approaching them fast through the foliage. The Galra. They'd found them.

Keith tried to lift his knife again. He knew what would happen now, he could force himself through it. He could -

"Well, look at what we have here."

Keith's eyes slid down to where a group of Galra soldiers stood beneath them.

"Looks like we've caught ourselves not only one, but _two_ Paladins of Voltron," the one that Keith assumed was the commander continued, a cruel smirk audible in his voice. "The Emperor will reward us generously. Drop them!"

Keith barely had a second to brace himself before he was in freefall, the air rushing out of him too fast for him to shout in alarm. The ground met him harshly, the impact jarring his whole body. His knife, which he had still been holding tightly, cut deeply into the black flightsuit covering his ribs, and he felt warm blood slowly begin to soak his side.

" _Ah_ , shit, motherf-" Keith turned his head sluggishly to see Pidge writhing in her net next to him, gripping her shoulder and biting her lip so hard blood was welling.

"P-Pidge," her eyes snapped open at his winded voice, "you okay?"

"Keith, yeah. Yeah, it's - oh, shit!" Pidge's eyes widened as she caught sight of his situation, and she frantically - though carefully - wormed her non-dislocated shoulder through a hole in her net, reaching towards Keith. A heavy boot landed on her fingers before she could reach him, and she bit her lip again.

"Hey -"

"Can't you see he's hurt?" Pidge shouted over Keith's quiet protest. "You really think Zarkon and his witch want you to deliver a dead Paladin instead of a living one? He needs - _ah!"_

The commander had lifted her foot and brought it down again forcefully on Pidge's fingers, and Keith really hoped he'd just imagined the snapping sounds. Pidge's arm jerked as she automatically tried to pull it back, and she groaned as it only put more strain on the appendage where it was strapped beneath the boot. The commander sneered, and crouched down to leer at her.

"What do you think the Emperor is going to do with you Paladins, if not kill you? If the Paladin dies, he dies. We'll deliver you both one way or another. Best start worrying about yourself, Green Paladin. If this one dies, it'll be just us."

He stood, and ground his heel, making Pidge growl with pain and fury, before lifting his foot and turning to Keith. Keith lifted his head to glare at him, trying to hide his laboured breathing and the ever spreading bloodstain on his side. He bared his teeth.

"The other Paladins will come for us," he said in as threatening a voice as he could manage. The commander only grinned, fangs glinting dangerously.

"Oh, I _do_ hope so. Delivering the entirety of Voltron to Emperor Zarkon would be the highest of honours." He kicked Keith hard, purposefully aiming for the spot where his hand was covering the wound in his side, and it was all he could do not to scream.

" _Hey!_ Don't you _dare_ touch him! Get away from him! You fucking - _argh_!" Keith could barely open his eyes, but he could hear the low hum of electricity, and how Pidge was convulsing on the ground next to him, and wished he could find the strength to move, to fight, to do something. His bayard was around here somewhere, the Galra hadn't noticed it yet. Maybe he could...

He could barely move a finger, and could already feel the pull of unconsciousness.

"Drag them back to the base and prepare a cruiser. We're leaving." 

Keith felt a tug, and the ground began to move beneath him. The movement jostled him painfully, and he faded out of awareness to the sound of Pidge frantically whispering his name. 

* * *

The ache in Pidge's dislocated shoulder was almost unbearable, every tug on the net and every vine she was dragged over jostling it agonisingly. She could feel bruises forming from the spots where her body had connected with the ground, and the inside of her cheek was bleeding from where she'd bitten through it. Normally, Pidge would be screaming the most horrifying, insulting profanities she could think of in as loud a voice as she could muster at the bastards who had trapped her in a net - a damn _net_ of all things! But now -

Now, she could barely get a breath. Now, she could barely even think straight. She bit her lip through every wave of pain, watching with wide horrified eyes as Keith was dragged in front of her. Every time he was shifted forward, some more blood would be left in his place, staining the greenery crimson.

He'd lost consciousness as the Galra had begun dragging them back to their base, and hadn't stirred since. Pidge didn't want to think about what that meant. She swallowed thickly around the growing lump in her throat.

"Please," she said, voice strained with pain and fear, the Galra didn't respond. "Please, my fr - the Red Paladin, he needs help. He'll be worth more to you alive - Haggar will want him _alive_ -"

"Shut up, or we'll make you," the Galra dragging her barked without breaking his stride or even glancing down at her. She bit her lip and looked back at Keith. Before she could speak again the trees thinned out, and the Galra base that she and Keith had been sent to infiltrate came into view.

Pidge remembered their mission - to retrieve information about a nearby Galra base - and was comforted by the knowledge that the Castle wasn't too far away. The other Paladins would know they were gone too long - just a few hours from now, it will have been too long since they'd last checked in.

 _They'll come for us_ , Pidge thought with absolute certainty _. Just hang on, Keith. They'll come for us. Don't you dare die on me._

As they entered the base, Pidge and Keith were shifted so that they were carried over the Galras' shoulders rather than dragged along the ground. Pidge saw the Galra carrying Keith curl his lip in disgust as blood was smeared across his shoulder.

They were carried through the base. Pidge tried to keep track of which turns they were taking, but between the unrelenting pain in her shoulder and her ever-intensifying worry for Keith, she quickly realised it was futile. They reached the cells, and were unceremoniously emptied out of their nets onto the cold, metal floor before being left alone.

Pidge lay, breathing heavily through her nose, for only a few seconds. Then, moving carefully so as not to jostle her arm any further, she crawled over to Keith's crumpled form. 

"Keith," she whispered. He didn't respond. Pidge removed her helmet, and did the same for Keith, laying them both beside her. His face was pale. Too pale. "Keith, can you hear me?" Nothing. She bit her lip against frustrated tears, and carefully began prodding his injured side.

In the dim purple lights, Pidge could just make out the deep gash in between the torn fabric of his flightsuit. She hissed as she gently pushed aside the dark fabric, trying to get an idea of just how life-threatening the wound was.

"What are the quiznacking chances," she muttered bitterly, "of getting caught in a god damn net by the Galra, and _then_ stabbing yourself with your own god damn knife? Only you, Keith..."

Pidge gently shifted his head from her lap to the floor and stood, gripping the arm that was still hanging limply at her side. Breathing heavily, she gave herself only a second of preparation before relocating her shoulder, her teeth grinding together so tightly her head pounded. She took a deep, shaky breath, and knelt again next to Keith.

Using her tender arm as little as possible, she began removing the armour surrounding her calf, giving her access to the flight suit underneath. She picked up Keith's knife from where it was still loosely grasped in his hand - whether the Galra hadn't noticed it or had deemed the two of them too injured to be a threat, Pidge didn't know. But she was insanely relieved they hadn't confiscated it.

She cut the thick fabric from just under her knee down to the top of her ankle, stripping it away and leaving her leg bare. She jumped slightly as her skin met the cold metal floor of the cell. 

Pidge cut the fabric into strips, and tied them together. Lifting Keith's head so that it rested on her folded legs, she quickly began wrapping his wound tightly, cursing the almost non-existent light. She was just tying the final knot when Keith groaned.

"Keith? You awake?" His eyelids fluttered, and he groaned again. "Keith?"

"Pidge?" His eyes opened slowly, and took their time in finding her face. She tried to smile.

"How you feeling? I mean, dumb question, obviously you feel like shit, but - is it bad? Can you tell? I can't really see how deep it is. The cut on your side, I mean -"

"Wh're - where are we?" Keith's voice was raspy, and just barely slurred. He started to sit up, and Pidge hurried to help him.

"Whoa, Keith, careful. That bandage is barely a bandage, it won't do much to help. And you've already lost enough blood as it is. You gotta take it easy. Here." She stood and got a grip under his armpits, pulling him over to the wall. He groaned again as his wound was pulled, and she hissed out an apology.

She sat next to him. 

"What happened?" He asked. Pidge sighed.

"Fucking _nets_ happened. Can you believe it? _Nets_ , Keith. Don't you remember?" He frowned, and was silent for a moment. Then his eyes widened, and in the poor light Pidge could just barely make out the darkening of his cheeks. In spite of their situation, she grinned.

"I know, right?"

"Nets?" He sounded as incredulous, as outraged as Pidge felt. "I mean, people on Earth don't even use net traps anymore. How - how could we get caught by _that?"_ His shoulders slumped, and outright horror crossed his face. "Oh, god. Lance is going to be unbearable."

"Oh, shit," Pidge's eyes widened. "I hadn't even thought..." She took Keith's hand and squeezed until he looked at her, then she wrapped her pinky around his. He raised a tired eyebrow at her, and she met his eyes solemnly.

"Keith. We can't tell him. He can't know. None of them can."

"They'll want to know how we got caught. We'll need to tell them something."

"We'll just say we were ambushed. Keith. We _have_ to. _Promise_ me." Keith nodded, and looked down questioningly at their joined fingers. He lifted them weakly.

"Um, what is - this?" Pidge blinked at him.

"It's a pinky promise. Obviously." He only looked at her blankly. She gaped at him.

 _"Seriously?"_ He looked affronted at her incredulous tone. "Seriously, Keith? First, you stab yourself with own freaking knife - which is something that Lance sure as hell _is_ going to be told about, because there is _no_ way that I'm letting that go any time soon - and now you're telling me you've never heard of a _pinky promise?"_ Keith spluttered indignantly.

"Wha - well, whatever," he said eloquently. "It sounds stupid, anyway. If you're going to make a promise, just make a promise. What's the need for the pinkies?"

"It's -" Pidge frowned. "It's just important, okay?" Keith snorted, and looked away. Pidge caught the edge of his frown, and saw how his other hand was hovering next to his wound.

"How bad is it, Keith?" He prodded it gently, and hissed. 

"It's pretty deep, but not as bad as it could've been."

"That's for sure..." Pidge had been trying very hard not to think about how things could have gone, if Keith had been holding it differently.

"Oh," he exclaimed softly, "my knife, did they -"

"It's here," Pidge crawled forward to retrieve the blade from where she'd dropped it next to their helmets. She handed it to Keith, and he noticeably relaxed as he wrapped his hand around it again.

"And your shoulder?" Pidge blinked, surprised he remembered.

"I relocated it, but I think I'll need a pod. Our helmets are dead, though. There's no way for us to contact the Castle, with how jammed up our connections are. If I can access the Galra's power supply, I could maybe fix it. But right now -"

"Can you fight?" Keith asked. Pidge looked at him, at his wounded side and pale face and slightly dazed, yet still fiercely determined, eyes. She nodded.

"We don't have our bayards, though. They're still where we dropped them. All I have to fight with is this." She held up the piece of leg armour she'd detached when making Keith's bandage. Keith looked at it, and nodded.

"It'll do. I can do most of the fighting, and cover you until we get to the control room -" 

"Keith, are you even in any condition to fight? You've lost a _lot_ of blood, you know, and that bandage really isn't going to help much at all."

"I know, Pidge. But I can still fight. We don't have much of a choice. By the time the others realise we've been gone too long we'll probably be halfway to Haggar." Pidge nodded reluctantly.

"I know, I know, just - don't take on too much. I may not be as crazy skilled as you, but I can still hold my own when I have to." Keith didn't respond. "Anyway," she continued, "we won't even be able to get out of this _cell_ unless the Galra come to get us. There's no access panel in here or anything, only the one outside the door. We'll have to know exactly when they're coming through, or we won't stand a chance."

"They're bound to come soon," Keith said. "They wouldn't pass up an opportunity to get information out of a Paladin of Voltron. We can see how they operate the door then. They'll probably have someone waiting outside. Then when they come for us again we can knock them out and use the signal to get through the doors." Pidge bit her lip.

"But - we'll to be sure they'll be coming back a second time, or we'll miss our opportunity to escape."

"We'll find a way, Pidge. We _will_."

Pidge nodded, and settled back against the wall.

* * *

Keith estimated about another hour before the Galra came to them. As they'd suspected, before the door closed on the group supposedly sent to interrogate them, they caught a glimpse of two others stationed outside the door. As he and Pidge were locked in with the menacing Galra, Keith fought the urge to draw his knife from where he'd hidden it in his boot. He glared at them as they smirked. One nodded at the others, and in a matter of seconds Pidge had been dragged away from him to the other side of the cell. Keith growled and made to follow, but the third Galra delivered a kick to his chest that slammed him back against the wall and left him breathless.

" _Keith!_ What do you want?" The Galra in front of Pidge turned to her with a look of amusement on his face, as though she were a petulant child rather than a Paladin of Voltron.

"What we want, brat," he sneered, "is information. I'm going to ask you two questions, and you're going to answer me. If you don't, there will be consequences." Keith was still catching his breath against the searing pain that had been reawakened in his side when he was grabbed by the shoulders and forced to kneel, Pidge pushed into a similar position in front of him. Their eyes met, and they saw each other's resolve to remain silent. The Galra either missed it, or didn't care.

"How did you come to know about this base's whereabouts?" The interrogator questioned. "And where is the rest of Voltron hiding?" Keith opened his mouth to reply, but Pidge beat him to it.

"We're not telling you anything, asshole." She glared at him with an intensity usually saved for when Lance stole her food or interrupted her work. The Galra looked back at her, face carefully blank, before the corner of his mouth twitched. He moved almost too fast for Keith to follow, sinking a heavy boot into his tender stomach with such force that he gagged. He wasn't given any time to recover before a second blow connected with his ribs, barely missing his makeshift bandage. He tried to straighten up when he heard Pidge's distressed shout, but the interrogator's foot came to rest on the back of his head, forcing him to remain bent forward uncomfortably.

 _Thank fuck I hid my knife,_ Keith thought as his back was left open and vulnerable.

"Stop it! Get the fuck off him, you fuckers! Leave him _alone_ -"

"How did you discover the location of this base?"

"What does it _matter_ -"

"Where are the other Paladins?"

"Like we'd tell you!"

"What about you?" The boot pressed harder against Keith's head, and he growled. The interrogator continued. "Care to give us some answers?"

"Like she said," Keith ground out between tightly clenched teeth, "we're not telling you shit. You're wasting your time." The pressure on his head grew until his forehead pressed against the cold metal floor, and Keith could feel his breathing picking up in spite of himself. His gloves were damp with sweat. The Galra didn't lift his boot.

"Wasting my time? Oh, I don't think so. You see, I already have you in my custody, Paladins, and you will be delivered to Zarkon regardless of how much futile resistance you show now. You can make your journey to him a far less painful one if you simply tell me what I want to know. Otherwise," Keith's nose connected painfully with the floor as the weight on his head increased, and he struggled to breathe, "things will get far, _far_ worse than you could possibly imagine." Keith heard Pidge snort.

"Is that corny-ass line meant to intimidate us?" Keith heard the faint tremor in her voice betraying the nervousness behind her words. "If we're going to be delivered to Zarkon one way or another, then our lives are already forfeit. But the other Paladins are still out there. _Voltron_ is still out there - and there's no way in hell we're giving up the universe's last hope, especially not to some pathetic _lackey_ like you!" Keith's breathless laugh came out as more of a huff against the floor, but the interrogator twisted his heel sharply nonetheless.

"Pathetic?" He growled. "Your words lack quite a bit of credit, considering it was _I_ who managed to catch you." The pressure on Keith's head increased almost unbearably for a few seconds before the Galra pushed off of him and stepped back. Keith straightened slowly, his head spinning. He glared at the interrogator, who looked at him and Pidge in turn. "Consider my words, Paladins. You will both be dead soon. Do you really want your final quintants to be spent in agony?" He jerked his head at the Galra holding them, and they were released. Keith slumped, the sudden lack of support just about making him keel over. Pidge was by his side in an instant, hands on his shoulders.

The Galra moved towards the door. Keith and Pidge held each other's gazes as they listened. Two knocks, then a third, then two more. The doors opened, and closed, and they were alone again. Keith watched Pidge's expression morph from one of determination, to slack-jawed shock, to utter fury in the space of a few seconds. Her head snapped toward the door.

"Are you _fucking_ kidding me? That's _it?_ First the net, and now the god damn kiddie secret knock _bullshit?_ Keith!" She turned to him with a look of pure devastation painted on her face. "How did _we_ get caught by these _idiots?"_ Keith grunted as he moved to lean against the wall.

"At least we know their code now. They'll have to come back to move us to their cruiser, we'll attack then. Stay sharp." Pidge nodded, and crawled around him to kneel by his injured side.

"How much more damage did they do?" She asked quietly, wincing when the fingers she brushed along the bandage came away bloody. Keith closed his eyes against the pain, but his voice was steady when he answered.

"Just agitated it a bit. Pretty sure it looks worse than it is." Pidge raised an eyebrow at that. "Don't worry, I can still fight."

"You fighting is _exactly_ what I'm worried about, Keith. You shouldn't even be moving - you should be in a freaking _pod_ right now."

"Yeah, well, do you see any pods in here with us, Pidge? We don't have the time or the resources to worry about injuries right now. Save it for after we get out of here." Pidge gritted her teeth, but nodded nonetheless. He was right. Keith reached into his boot and pulled out his knife. They waited.

* * *

Pidge wasn't sure how long they'd been left for. All she knew for certain was that Keith needed medical attention. Immediate medical attention. She looked at his face, deathly pale and covered with a light sheen of sweat, and reassured herself of his still being alive from the somewhat unsteady rise and fall of his chest as he drew in breath after laboured breath. _Blood loss_ , her brain reminded her for the millionth, unhelpful time. She fought back the panic, and reached up to tap his cheek with a trembling hand. His closed eyes twitched, and he made a small noise of discontent.

"C'mon, Keith, don't sleep. You can't - we can't afford to drop our guard, they could be back at any minute." She tapped his face more insistently, just verging on slapping before he groaned and cracked open one bleary, tired eye. Pidge tried to smile. "Hey."

"Mn... sorry..." Keith lifted a hand to rub at his eyes, moving unnervingly slowly. His hand was shaking. Pidge swallowed thickly.

"K-Keith, maybe you should give me the knife. I can fight, you're really in no shape to -"

"I can fight, too, Pidge."

"Keith, you can barely stay awake! This is no time to be _heroic_ or -"

"I'm not _trying_ to -"

The door started to open.

Keith's eyes widened as they met Pidge's, and he quickly hid the hand holding his knife behind his back. Pidge scooped up her discarded leg armour. The three Galra from before walked in, the two who had held Pidge and Keith now carrying thick handcuffs. The interrogator smirked as he took in their sorry appearances.

"Changed your minds yet, Paladins?" Pidge shifted so that she was ready to pounce.

"You wish, asshole." His smirk twitched just slightly, and he gestured at the other Galra. They moved forward. As soon as they were in range, Pidge leapt. She swung the armour in a wide arc, landing it solidly on the Galra's jaw. His head snapped back, and he went down with a yell of pain, one quickly echoed by his companion as Keith sank his blade into their chest, dragging it upwards. Blood sprayed, and Pidge sprang forward. She tackled the interrogator around the middle, cursing her petite frame as he only stumbled back a few paces rather than going sprawling like she had intended. His fist connected with her side, and she grunted, before he all but threw her off of him. Keith was upon him before either of them could regain their balance, and they both went crashing to the ground.

Keith swung his blade down towards the Galra's throat, but a knee to his side just about knocked him unconscious, and the blow landed on the Galra's shoulder instead. The interrogator roared with pain, and brought his knee up again. This time Keith slid off his chest, his grip on the knife loosening, leaving it still lodged in the Galra's shoulder. Keith wasn't moving, but the Galra seemed so focused on the Paladin that had just stabbed him that he had forgotten about the one he had tossed aside. Pidge saw her opportunity.

Approaching the interrogator at a run, Pidge jumped, grabbed the knife, and used all her weight to pull it down across his chest. He made a choked sound, and warmth sprayed across Pidge's face and arms and chest, and they both fell with a crash. Pidge felt the air rush from her lungs as the interrogator landed heavily on top of her. She groaned under his dead weight.

" _God_ , I hope this door is soundproof..." She crawled out from under the body, pulling Keith's drenched knife with her. _Keith_. Pidge spun around, finding him still lying in the same sprawled position he had fallen in.

"Keith! Dammit, Keith, be okay. _Please_ , be okay. Come on!" She rolled him over, and held her ear to his mouth. His breath was fast, and shallow, and unpleasantly raspy, but it was there. Pidge just about wept. "Okay. Okay. Keith. K-Keith, come on. Wake up! Wake _up_ , we're almost done! We're almost out, Keith, come on!" She slapped him. Harder than she had meant to. He groaned, and opened his eyes to glare at her.

"Stop that..." Pidge grinned at him even as she felt more tears prick her eyes.

"Come on, Keith. We're almost out." She stood and pulled him up after her, steadying him as he staggered. She pulled their helmets out from where one of the Galra had fallen on them, and they pulled them on gratefully. Within a few seconds they were both standing in front of the door, knife and leg armour at the ready. Keith nodded at her, and she took a deep breath before knocking. The door opened, and they charged.

The Galra standing guard outside the door barely had a moment to make sense of the two angry Paladins running at them before they were dead, then Keith and Pidge were gone, sprinting down the corridors towards what they guessed (hoped) was the way to the control room. Pidge looked at Keith as they ran. He was pale, and breathing so harshly that she was worried he might pass out.

"Kei-" She was cut off by a sharp pain in her shoulder. She tripped, and sprawled across the floor.

 _"Pidge!"_ She felt Keith grab her under her armpits and haul her around the next corner, then he was gone again. Pidge pushed herself up the wall, trying to make sense of the burning in her shoulder. She looked down - _shot. I've been shot,_ she realised dazedly. She stared at the smoke rising from her shoulder for a few seconds, before a shout came from around the corner. _Keith. He's fighting._ The image of Keith running beside her, pale and bloody and exhausted, flashed through her mind, and she pushed herself up off the floor and staggered around the corner. Keith was holding his own, but just barely.

 _Dammit, why are there so many?_ She counted three down, and four still standing, firing at Keith with less accuracy and more panic as he kept dodging and wiping more of them out. Pidge spotted movement from one of the ones on the ground, and sprinted towards him just as he lifted his gun. He aimed it at Keith's back, and Keith was holding off the others, he didn't see it - Pidge realised she wasn't going to get to him on time.

 _"Keith!"_ He turned his head towards her, and so did the Galra aiming at him. The gun was turned away from Keith, and Pidge had only the briefest of moments to feel relieved before he fired, and the burning spread to her stomach. She kept charging, and brought the armour still held tightly in her hand down hard enough on the Galra's head, knocking him out. She stood over him, panting.

Through the blood that was rushing noisily in her ears, she became aware of Keith calling her name, sounding more and more panicked each time. She turned to him, but as she did so the world spun around her, and she had to close her eyes. When she opened them again, she was looking at the ceiling. The burning in her torso was becoming unbearable. She tried to move, but her body wouldn't listen to her. Her limbs felt like they were made of lead, her mind full of cotton. All she could do was lie there and listen to the fighting, to the grunts and cries and the unmistakable sound of a blade meeting flesh.

She closed her eyes, and all was silent.

* * *

Keith watched over his shoulder as the Galra shot Pidge, as she knocked him out before falling to the floor, as she lay still and her eyes slipped closed. He watched, and felt the panic he had kept under check from the moment they had been caught in those nets clawing its way up his throat. It burst forth as a roar. Keith ignored his dizziness and the unceasing pain in his side. He swung his knife in a wide arc, and let his rage take the reigns.

The remaining Galra put up a decent fight, he'd give them that, but _nothing_ can stand against an infuriated Paladin of Voltron. It was over quickly.

The second they were all dead, Keith ran to Pidge's side, kneeling next to her and feeling carefully for a pulse. He let out a dry sob when he found it. He looked at her wounds. They were bleeding sluggishly, the one on her stomach still smoking and sizzling in a way that made Keith's stomach turn. He wondered if he had time to make a similar bandage for her as the one she had made for him, but had barely finished forming the thought before he heard more footsteps approaching. He growled through his tightly gritted teeth, and stood to meet them, feet planted solidly on either side of Pidge's torso.

 _They're not getting near her,_ he swore to himself. He held his knife in front of him, and quickly bent to retrieve a dropped blaster, aiming it down the corridor. The footsteps drew nearer, grew louder. Keith put his finger on the trigger.

He pulled it just as Lance rounded the corner.

 _"Whoa!"_ A gloved hand grabbed the neck of Lance's armour and yanked him back, and the blast only left a long burning streak on the edge of his chestplate. Keith just about collapsed with relief when the sharpshooter turned to him with a look of incredulity. Which quickly morphed into one of alarm as he took in the scene before him. Shiro appeared behind him, his hand still holding tightly onto his armour. Hunk wasn't far behind. They all looked at each other for a few silent, shocked moments. Then Shiro was running.

"Sh-Shiro-" Shiro cut him off by grabbing his chestplate and dragging him forward into a tight hug that had Keith wincing.

"Thank god, thank god," the older man was whispering.

"Keith, are you - _Pidge!_ Oh my god, _Pidge!"_ Keith jerked back and Shiro released him, and they both turned to see Lance and Hunk kneeling by the unconscious Green Paladin. Lance turned to him with wide, fearful eyes.

"What the hell happened?" Keith felt the darkness creeping in again, and steadied himself on Shiro's shoulder.

"They - there were too many of them," he panted, "I couldn't keep track. And Pidge, she - she saw one aiming for me, and drew his attention, and he -"

"Shit," Hunk slid his arms under Pidge's back and legs, and stood quickly, as though she weighed nothing at all. He turned to them with teary but determined eyes. "We're getting out of here, _now_. We're getting Pidge to a healing pod, and she's going to be _fine_. Let's go." Keith nodded, and allowed himself only a short moment more of leaning on Shiro before letting go to run after Hunk. He heard Lance and Shiro follow.

Their going was much faster, on account of Lance expertly taking out each group of Galra soldiers that appeared at the end of each corridor. Keith clutched his knife tightly, squeezing the handle against the waves of agony radiating from his side.

"Almost there," Hunk muttered to Pidge, lying unresponsive in his arms.

 _Almost there,_ Keith repeated to himself. _Almost there._

They turned a corner, and the heavy doors leading to their freedom came into view.

As well as a group of Galra soldiers at least three times the size of their own group.

Hunk swore more colourfully than Keith had ever heard from him, and Lance lifted his rifle to his shoulder. The Galra raised their guns in response, and they barely had time to stumble back behind the wall before the space where they had been standing filled with lasers and smoke. Lance raised a shield and positioned it at the corner, and started shooting from where he was crouched. Hunk carefully laid Pidge down and joined him. Keith watched them for a few seconds, before Shiro's hand on his shoulder drew his attention. The older man was looking at him with a careful expression on his face.

"Keith, are you okay?" Keith realised how heavily he was breathing, how much his vision was graying at the edges, how much he was swaying where he crouched. He slumped back to sit against the wall, landing more heavily than he had intended. Shiro caught his shoulders, and leaned closer still. "Keith, talk to me. Are you hurt?"

"S-side," he said, his knife-wielding hand hovering just above the bloody bandage. Shiro squinted at it, the black of the fabric and the purple Galra lights hiding the blood well. He frowned and brushed his fingers along the bandage, and Keith hissed in pain. Shiro jerked his hand back as though scalded, and looked at Keith with fear-filled eyes.

"What happened? How bad is it?" Keith thought back, and thinks if he had enough blood left in his body he might have blushed.

"'s my own fault. Was my knife," at Shiro's concerned expression, Keith tried to straighten up, and look less like he was about to pass out. "It's not really that bad, I've just lost a bit of blood. A bit dizzy."

"How long ago did it happen?"

"When we got taken." Shiro cursed, and turned to Hunk and Lance, his hands still on Keith's shoulders.

"Guys, how's it looking?"

"Well," Lance said, releasing a breath he had been holding in concentration, "we've taken out about half of them, but I get the feeling more are on their way. If we rush the rest of them now, maybe we could make it out. But with Hunk carrying Pidge, and Keith out of action -"

"I'm _not_ 'out of action'. I can still fight."

"No, Keith, Lance is right. You're in no condition to -"

"This isn't exactly the time to be worried about what I'm in the condition to be doing. We need to get out of here, and I _can_ fight, so I _will_. Pidge needs a pod -"

"You _both_ need a pod," Hunk growled, worry twisting his face, "but you're right." Keith felt Shiro's hands tighten on his shoulders.

"Hunk -"

"No, Shiro. He _is_ right. We need to get out of here, and the only way to do that is if we use all the power we have. Keith and Pidge will _both_ die if we don't get them out of here." Shiro's grip was becoming painful, and Keith met his gaze solidly when the older man turned to look at him. They had a brief, silent argument, before Shiro sighed shakily and nodded his head.

"Fine," he said in a low voice, "but as soon as we're out of those doors, you're on my back, Keith. Got it?" Keith huffed, but nodded nonetheless. He accepted the hand Shiro offered to help him to his feet, and held his knife in front of him.

"Okay, there's not too many of them left," Lance said. Hunk gathered Pidge up again. They all braced themselves, then as one sprinted round the corner and into the fray. Keith and Shiro were behind Hunk and Lance, the shields were the only thing keeping them all from death.

They approached the door, and as soon as they were in range Keith leapt out from his cover, knife ready, and began. He heard Shiro doing the same at the other side of the door, the sound of Lance's bayard quickly followed by grunts and shouts of pain. Keith slashed with his knife, ducking under blows and delivering his own at a dizzying speed. He kept going, and going, but there seemed to be no end of them -

"Keith! It's clear! Let's _go!"_ The Galra in front of him went down, and Keith turned to see the others waiting for him by the blasted open door, Shiro gesturing to him with that horrid fearful expression on his face. Keith sprinted towards them, leaping over countless bodies and dropped weapons, and got behind the door just in time to avoid an onslaught of lasers as the remaining soldiers realised that they were retreating. The others gave Keith a brief moment to regain his breath before Lance helped haul him onto Shiro's shoulders - both of them distinctly ignoring Keith's slurred protests - and they were off again, running down the dirt path and into the green foliage.

With every step Shiro took, Keith felt the pain in his side reawaken. He pressed his forehead against Shiro's shoulder, trying to focus on the dull pain from the bruise where his forehead had been pressed against the floor rather than the searing agony of his torn open side. He became aware of Shiro speaking to him in a low voice.

"We're almost there. We're almost there, Keith, just hang on. You'll be fine. You and Pidge will be fine. We're almost there..." Keith felt himself smile slightly, before a sudden thought occurred to him that had him pushing frantically against Shiro's back, almost sending them both crashing to the ground. Shiro skidded to a halt, grabbing a thick tree trunk for balance.

"Wha- Keith, what? What is it - what's wrong?"

"Our bayards - we dropped them - they're -"

"Geez, _relax_ , mullet," Lance piped up, appearing behind them and pushing Keith back into a more secure position on Shiro's back. "We got them when we landed here. How do you think we knew you guys were in trouble and not just taking ages like you normally do?" Keith glared at him as they started moving again.

"Pidge and I _never_ take ages," he muttered. Lance only raised an eyebrow and smirked at him. They quickened their pace, Shiro's breathing growing painfully laboured under Keith's extra weight, and soon caught up with Hunk, who was already standing by the Lions with a look of angry impatience on his face.

"Hunk," Shiro said, gasping, "you take Pidge and Keith in Yellow, while Lance and I get the Red and Green Lions. You'll need to move fast, they'll probably send some fighters after us, and we'll need some help from the Castle." They all nodded, and Shiro followed Hunk up the ramp into Yellow. Keith waited until he was set down next to Pidge before reaching out to take a hold of Shiro's arm. Shiro reached up and grasped his hand tightly.

"Shiro," he said, hating how hoarse and breathless he sounded. "I can -"

"You've done enough, Keith," Shiro interrupted smoothly. "Let us take it from here. Just rest. You shouldn't move around too much. From the look of things you've already lost _way_ too much blood."

"But I can still fly Red. Shiro, I can still _help_."

"I'm sure you can," Shiro smiled at him and raised a hand to clasp the back of his neck. He pressed their foreheads together as Yellow purred to life around them. "But you don't _have_ to, anymore. Just rest now, Keith. I'll see you soon." And he was gone.

Keith gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the wall. He felt the Lion begin to move, and allowed himself some small comfort that they were finally getting the hell off this damn planet. His gaze slid to Pidge, lying so silent and still beside him. He watched the rise and fall of her chest, and rested a hand against her arm, and finally allowed the lingering blackness to claim him again.

* * *

When Pidge emerged from the pod, she was confused, to say the least. The last thing she remembered was being in the Galra prison, fighting for her freedom, for her _life_ , Keith by her side -

" _Keith_."

"Keith will be okay, Pidge."

She looked up to find Shiro in front of her, his hands firmly grasping her upper arms, which was the only thing keeping her from falling flat on her face. She blinked at him. His eyes drifted to something behind her, and she turned to find Keith suspended in a pod next to the one she had just emerged from. He was still as grimy and bloody as she was, but considerably less pale and on-the-brink-of-death-ish than when she had last seen him.

"Shiro," she said, pouring all the thanks and relief into the one word that she could, and earning a weary smile in return. "How did - what _happened?"_ He led her over to a group of chairs by the side of the pods. Hunk and Lance were slumped in theirs, fast asleep and snoring loudly. Pidge snorted fondly. She sat next to them, and Shiro crouched in front of her. "What happened?" She asked again. He sighed.

"Well, I don't actually know how you two got captured, since you were both unconscious by the time we all arrived back at the Castle. But you were several hours late in checking in to the Castle, and though normally we would have waited just a while longer before following you to see what was going on, Coran said he felt something was off. So we came." Pidge raised an eyebrow.

"You came because Coran _felt funny?"_ Shiro grinned and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"He was... pretty insistent. Said his 'moustache was tingling'." Pidge laughed.

"Well, thank quiznack for Coran's moustache, then." They laughed again, before a groan from beside them signaled Lance's waking up. His eyes opened slowly, drifting immediately towards the pods. Pidge watched with amusement as he stared blearily at the pod she had been occupying, now open and empty, his expression morphing from sleepiness to shock to almost comical horror in less than a second. He slapped Hunk's thigh, the other boy jolting awake, and spun wildly in his chair before he finally spotted Pidge sitting right next to him. She smiled at him, and he stared back in shock, then grinned back so widely it looked painful. Before either of them could say anything Hunk was upon her.

"Pidge! Oh, _Pidge!_ Holy quiznack, do you have any idea how scared we've been? Dude, you were shot! Like, twice! _Shot!_ You - oh my _god!"_

"H-Hunk - I can't breathe..."

"S-sorry!" She was dropped by the blubbering mess holding her, and was immediately snatched up by the other blubbering mess standing beside her.

"You really did scare us though, Pidge," Lance said, sniffing loudly and wetly. "Don't get shot again, okay?"

"It's not like I did it on purpose, you know," Lance laughed and released her, and they sat again.

"So," Shiro prompted once they were all settled, "care to tell us what happened, Pidge? How did you get caught?" _Net._ Pidge hoped that they didn't notice the blush spreading over her cheeks as she began spluttering out her explanation.

"W-well, we - we went in to, to get the info, like we'd discussed. But they must have had some kind of advanced sensors or something, because they knew we were there before we even got through the doors. And there were too many of them for us to fight so we ran, and they, uh, caught up to us. And, well, caught us." They stared at her, and she cursed her nervous stutter. Usually she was far better at lying, but her brain still felt slightly muddled and slow. _Damn these pods,_ she thought bitterly. "S-so," she said, hoping to divert their attention away from the topic of their capture, "how long will Keith be in there for? It can't be much longer now, surely." They all sobered up, and Shiro swallowed audibly as he looked back at Keith's still form.

"It shouldn't be too long," he said quietly. "He lost a _lot_ of blood." He didn't say anything more.

Pidge didn't _need_ to hear anything more. She remembered. She didn't think she'd ever be able to forget - just how much Keith had bled, and kept bleeding. His tired, pained expression. The muffled noises he had made as that asshole Galra had punched and kicked and degraded him. She clenched her fist and drew a deep breath in through her nose - regretting that decision almost immediately as her nostrils were assaulted with the coppery scent of blood. She looked down, and felt her stomach turn.

"Uh, yeah," she said hoarsely, drawing the attention of the other Paladins away from Keith and back to her. "Speaking of blood, I'm gonna go, uh, wash all this blood off. Like, now. I'll be right back." She stood and walked out and down the corridors as fast as her jelly legs would let her.

Back in the comfort of her own room, she finally allowed herself to fall apart a little. The tears that she had been fighting back since she first saw Keith's bloodied side slid down her cheeks, her breath hitching as she stumbled about the room picking up whatever clean items of clothing she could find. She walked into the bathroom and turned on the lights, careful to avoid catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She turned on the shower, and sighed gratefully when she stepped under the hot water, letting it wash over her, cleansing her of blood and sweat and exhaustion and fear.

 _It's over,_ she reminded herself. _Keith is safe now, and so am I. Neither of us are going to die._

She stayed in the shower for as long as it took to stop crying, and when she stepped out her skin was red and slightly tender, but distinctly free of blood and bullet wounds. She breathed a deep sigh of relief as she pulled on her clothes, smelling of her and only her, and quickly pulled on some slippers before slipping out of her room and starting back towards the medbay at a jog. She left the bloodied armour where she'd dropped it, deciding to deal with it when she didn't feel like she was hanging onto her composure by a mere thread. She burst through the medbay doors -

Just in time to see Keith stumbling out of his pod into Shiro's waiting arms.

His head rested on the older man's shoulder for a moment, before it lifted and his eyes met her ones across the room. They stared at each other in numb shock for a moment, before Keith's face broke into such a genuine expression of relief that Pidge felt her tears returning full force. She sprinted across the room, and Shiro stepped aside to allow her access to their Red Paladin. She tackled him, wrapping her arms around his newly healed midriff, doing her best to ignore the blood that coated the entire area. She could always have another shower if she needed to.

Keith stiffened slightly in her arms, and held himself so still that Pidge wondered if she'd overstepped herself. She couldn't think of any other time that she had hugged Keith like this - that _any_ of them, even _Shiro_ , had hugged Keith like this. Maybe he wasn't really comfortable -

His arms wrapped around her shoulders, and she smiled. She squeezed him tightly, and a moment later felt the others join in, warmth and comfort surrounding her on all sides.

"So, Keith," Lance said, voice muffled slightly from the way his face was pressed against Shiro's shoulder. Keith made a questioning noise. "Remind us how, exactly, you two got caught?" Pidge stiffened. Trust Lance to take full advantage of Keith's disorientation. She tried to pull back to warn him, but Hunk was pressed firmly against her back, and all she could do was listen with horror.

"U-uh, didn't Pidge tell you? We got caught in a ne - _ow!"_ Keith jolted, and the whole group jolted with him, as Pidge delivered a tight pinch to the area of freshly healed flesh exposed by the gash in his flight suit. She twisted her head up to glare at him, and watched his annoyed expression quickly morph into one of alarm as he remembered their promise in the cell. "U-uh. We, uh - we got - caught." He backtracked lamely.

But, alas, the damage had already been done.

"In a _net?"_ Lance's amused voice rang over Keith's mumbles. His red face was all the confirmation Lance needed, and he started sniggering uncontrollably. Hunk shook with his own poorly contained chuckles, and Shiro's face, from what Pidge could see of it over Keith's shoulder, wore an expression of malicious glee that reminded her strongly of Matt whenever he used to tease her.

She listened to them all laugh and taunt, listened to Keith's angry, defensive retorts, and found herself smiling.

They were okay. They were safe. They were _alive_. She could be content if the only price was a little ribbing.

Besides, her revenge on them was going to be spec-fucking-tacular.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't actually know why I felt being caught in a net would be so unbelievable, but once I started writing it like that I couldn't stop? Oh well?
> 
> Thanks for reading! Feedback is appreciated! If you want to send me any more requests for my Bad Things Happen Bingo card, you can find it on my Tumblr - cha-lii.


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